Sunrise
by Zea T
Summary: Lennox wasn't aware the Autobot team was incomplete, until an unexpected arrival reveals an equally unexpected threat. A NEST perspective on events as Sunstreaker joins his twin Sideswipe on Earth. Post-RotF. First Transformers fic - reviews welcomed!
1. Chapter 1

**Sunrise**

_Lennox wasn't aware the Autobot team was incomplete, until an unexpected arrival reveals an equally unexpected threat._

This is a fan-fiction based on the _Transformers_ franchise, created by Hasbro, and recently developed as a series of motion pictures by Hasbro and Dreamworks and directed by Michael Bay. Characters and situations are used without permission. I'm just doing this for fun, not profit.

I'm kind of new to the Transformers multiverse, so this is a movie-verse story (set post-Revenge of the Fallen) since that's the version I'm most familiar with. I couldn't resist playing on the G1 relationship between Sunstreaker and Sideswipe though, so this is the story of Sunstreaker's arrival on Earth, from a NEST perspective.

Any reviews, comments or suggestions you may have would be very welcome!

* * *

**Part One**

The cab of an articulated lorry was hardly the perfect place to do paperwork. Admittedly, Lennox had more space to lay out spreadsheets, authorisation forms and balance tables than he might in the front seat of, say, a Chevy or even a Corvette. He just couldn't shake the instinct that told him he ought to be watching the road, gripping the wheel between firm hands rather than covering it in drifts of paper.

An experienced special forces officer didn't get that way by being careless.

But nor did any officer reach Lennox' rank without learning to take their ease when they got the chance, or when he could place an implicit trust in the companions fighting at his sides. If any man could consider himself safe on the crowded roads of the Eastern seaboard, it was one hitching a ride with the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime.

"You appear tired, Major Lennox."

The deep rumble came from the dashboard radio, only a little muted by the wad of receipts Lennox had left resting across it. He reached out, pulling the papers aside with a grimace of apology. Prime's voice seemed to speak directly to his muscles.

Today's skirmish hadn't been a difficult one by NEST standards. The Decepticon they'd routed from a small town just outside the city had been small fry, easily dispatched by a thrust of Sideswipe's blade and hardly worth a full turn out by the Earth-based Autobot contingent, let alone their human allies. What got Lennox down was the fact that this was just one meaningless skirmish amongst many. Since the destruction of the Fallen, and Megatron's withdrawal, the remaining Decepticons had kept well clear of confronting NEST forces – and then sent small-fry like today's to die as lambs to the slaughter on NEST's very doorstep. It was as if they were fighting a guerrilla war, with minor troublemakers tossed ruthlessly into the line of fire as probes designed to test Earth's readiness and gauge the strength of their forces.

Lennox knew he was playing a game, but he didn't dare _not_ turn out. As much as the soldier in him was craving an open battle and, hopefully, decisive victory, he was realistic enough to know that luck had played a large part in their two real confrontations to date. The thought of a pitched battle against a full-blown Decepticon army kept him awake at nights, shivering in a cold sweat. If NEST could back Megatron off long enough for the humans to build up their resources and the Autobot contingent to grow in size, he wasn't going to throw away the opportunity.

Looked at that way, the policy of confronting each Decepticon with overwhelming firepower made sound tactical sense, even if, like today, that meant seven Autobots and three assault 'copters taking on a malevolent cement mixer. That didn't make explaining it to a Senate appropriations committee any easier.

Lennox sighed.

"Guess I'm not cut out for red-tape. General Morshower wanted these accounts signed off yesterday."

"Indeed."

There was silence for a few moments as they left the last city suburbs behind them and headed out on the open road that led towards NEST's air-force base. Lennox smiled to himself, waiting for the next question. It wasn't often he had the impression he'd perplexed Optimus Prime. As a giant, superintelligent alien robot, Prime could get to grips with most concepts before they'd even registered on the major's organically-slow thought processes. But if there was one aspect of human culture that could reduce any Autobot to helpless frustration, it was government bureaucracy.

"Do you not have others qualified to compile such information as your government requires?" Prime inquired cautiously.

"Uh-huh," Lennox agreed, shuffling half the papers onto the passenger seat and focussing on the one column of numbers he just couldn't reconcile however he tried. "But the buck stops with me, and that means accounting for damages, checking the base supply roster and knowing what I'm signing before I sign."

"Ah." The rumble from the speakers took on a satisfied air. "Then it is a matter of pride and responsibility to ensure the numbers are correct?"

Lennox grinned. Those were concepts both he and the Autobot leader could get behind.

"You got it."

His grin faded, replaced by a familiar frown. Nope, these numbers still wouldn't balance.

"You seem troubled, Major Lennox. Perhaps I could assist you. We have a few minutes longer."

Lennox looked up, realising that he could see the base now, hunkered down under the grey sky a handful of miles ahead of them. Ironhide and Ratchet had moved up to flank their leader, the two big 4x4s forming a reassuringly solid core to the Autobot ranks. Jolt ambled along a little way in front of them. Sideswipe had raced ahead, the silver-grey Corvette dimly visible, glinting in the thin winter sunlight as he closed the distance to the Base.

If Sideswipe was ahead, that meant the twins were almost certainly taking shelter behind their leader. The senior Autobots were usually careful to keep some distance between the two small Chevys and the larger warrior, particularly given the strange mood Sideswipe seemed to sink into after a skirmish. Lennox still wasn't entirely sure whether the awkwardness he'd noticed between Sideswipe, Mudflap and Skids arose mainly from one side or the other, but he'd seen enough sparks fly between the melancholic soldier and the playful twins to take notice when assigning them to missions. The one time he'd tried to ask Optimus Prime what lay behind it, the giant machine had looked thoughtful for a moment, an indefinable sadness in his eyes as they picked out Sideswipe from halfway across the base. 'Memories' was all Prime said, and that one word was enough to make any soldier nod sympathetically and leave well alone.

Seven autobots in convoy, another thirteen all-told on base. Twenty living machines in total… so why was NEST regularly laying on fuel for twenty-one?

Optimus Prime was silent for a few moments after Lennox posed the question. The special forces major ran through the Autobot forces in his own mind, wondering if one of them had something akin to a drink problem, and whether any human understood the Cybertronian mind well enough to tell.

"I shall make enquiries," the Autobot leader promised in a long-suffering tone.

With a sigh, Lennox pressed a thumb to the heat-sensitive ink on the corner of the page, leaving his imprint. A one in twenty discrepancy wasn't worth his time or the hassle of tracking it down. And if the Senate appropriations committee thought otherwise, they could come and take his place while he sat nice and cosy in their Washington offices for a day or two.

They were approaching base now, the gates wide open and welcoming the weary soldiers home. Sideswipe was slowing down, letting Jolt come up alongside him and both moving to opposite sides of the road to let Prime take the lead. Optimus Prime sped up a little, ready to lead his troops back into NEST.

Lennox dropped the last wads of paper into the chair beside him and sat back, glad to abandon it and already looking forward to a long shower and an even longer nap. He wasn't expecting to be flung forward, a suddenly-inflated airbag knocking the breath from his lungs even as it protected his ribs from a painful collision with the steering wheel.

"Hey!"

"Watch it!"

"What the…?"

A chorus of protests rose over the squeal of brakes and the scraping of metal as half a dozen machines struggled to avoid the mother of all pile-ups. On Prime's dashboard screen, a series of messages echoed the vocalisations, the Autobots exchanging protests and howls of complaint as electronic text – all with a single target.

"Sideswipe!" Prime's roar of anger faded into confusion.

Lennox blinked, gasping to recover his wind, and trying to process what he'd seen. The silver-grey Corvette had slammed on his brakes without warning, painfully close to the front of the convoy. If that had been all, the other Autobots could have taken avoiding action. The handbrake turn, scream of wheel-spin and sudden acceleration right into his companions' path were another matter. Optimus Prime came to a halt skewed across the road, rocking slightly from side-to-side as he absorbed an impact from one of the unsighted twins. Lennox groped for the cab door, scrabbling it open and dropping to the ground beside the big semi. He stared back towards the city, startled to realise that Sideswipe was already no more than a glint in the distance and a slowly dissipating trail of dust.

He'd known the skirmisher was fast. He hadn't realised they were talking about race-car speed and nought to sixty in nothing flat.

All around him there was a mechanical ballet going on, curiously graceful but accompanied by the grinding of mechanical parts and the purr of motors rather than any more conventional music. The Autobots transformed _en masse_, all of them startled, at least half of them nursing scrapes and bruises on their tough shells.

Skids was looking a little the worse for wear, hands raised to the head that had collided with Prime's rear bumper. Mudflap supported his twin with one hand, his body and other arm twisted so he could inspect the tire tracks that ran over his wings.

"Man, did you see that? He went straight over me! That dude seriously owes me for a new paintjob."

Ratchet, the team medic, stopped beside the small Autobots for long enough to check there was no serious damage, before stepping up beside Ironhide and Prime. The senior machines were gazing back towards the city and the settling dust cloud, frowns on their faces.

"What made him take off like that?" Ironhide rumbled.

"Typical of the 'bot not to think of the consequences." Ratchet's comment came as more of a surprise. Lennox had been on enough missions with the warrior to have a healthy respect for Sideswipe's battle skills, and a lack of planning wasn't one of them.

Optimus Prime didn't comment one way or the other. His lieutenants were frustrated and angry, but Prime's voice held a note of concern. "Sideswipe is not responding."

That was certainly a worry. Lennox hadn't heard the Corvette say a word, but he'd assumed that Sideswipe had at least informed his leader of his destination.

"Could be some sort of malfunction?" the major suggested, glancing back towards Ratchet as he spoke. "The speed he was going… He could be in trouble."

The medic frowned, his initial anger fading.

"I could go after him, but it'll be some time before these old wheels catch up to a hot-rod like that."

"Ah…?" Jolt's interjection attracted eyes from all around. The junior Autobot looked decidedly nervous, and extremely unwilling to take the rap for his friend's actions. "We were talking just before he took off. He sent a data burst. Said 'Sorry. Later.'"

There was a short silence as they all absorbed that. Ironhide's irritation was obvious as he adjusted the barrels of his primary weapon and stamped out a circle ten-foot-wide in a handful of paces.

"If he's not in trouble now, he will be when he gets back."

Ratchet chuckled in a not entirely happy way. "Won't be the first time for that Corvette." He threw a sideways glance at the still-unsteady Skids. "I'd better get this one back to base, Prime. I'm not convinced that there's a brain in there to rattle, but I probably ought to check to be sure."

Prime nodded thoughtfully. There was a low metallic clang and then the giant robot was transforming, folding back into his vehicular alt-mode. "Major Lennox, if you would climb aboard? Skids, you may ride in my trailer. We will all return to base. Sideswipe will contact us if he needs us, of that I am certain."

* * *

"Major! Hear you had a bit of a pile up out there?" There was amusement as well as curiosity in Epps' voice. Lennox rolled his eyes at his second in command as he topped the stairs and stepped out onto NEST's main communications and command gantry. He had to admit that the thought of an Autobot pile-up had its entertaining side, but there was something about the whole affair that was still bothering him.

He concealed his concern behind a wryly-amused exterior. "Sideswipe had places to go, people to see. I think that's one 'bot we're going to have to put on the remedial 'rules of the road' refresher."

"If Optimus doesn't beat us to it," Epps suggested. Prime was once again in his bipedal mode, handing off a much-improved Skids to Ratchet's care. There was a brusqueness to his movements that suggested the Autobot leader was no happier than Lennox felt. Epps eyed the giant robot warily for a few moments before turning back to his own superior, the amusement fading entirely from his military demeanour. "There might not be time for lessons, not anytime soon at any rate. NORAD tracked three meteors into the upper atmosphere not ten minutes ago. Lost them halfway down."

It was the classic pattern. Whatever technology the Cybertronians used to mask their presence, Earth forces had never yet managed to track one of them all the way to the surface. Lennox felt his heart, and his hopes for a nap, falling.

"Three?"

"Yeah." Epps gave him a sombre look. He didn't need to expand any further on his comment, or give voice to the thought that troubled them both. They hadn't had anything but single 'con incursions since the big showdown in Egypt.

Prime was paying attention now too. The Autobot stepped up to the gantry, shoulders level with the computer monitors Lennox was studying.

"Predicted touchdown?" Optimus rumbled.

"Not too far from here, as it happens." Epps' sardonic tone left no doubt how he rated that as a coincidence. "Hundred miles due west, give or take thirty or so. Assuming they're not air-bursters, of course."

The last was an afterthought, but one to make Lennox shudder. He suppressed the movement pretty well, but Prime must have noticed.

"Very few Cybertronians have flight capability. It is a trait more common amongst Decepticons than Autobots, true, but it is likely these newcomers must land where they fall." He paused to look at Lennox. "You will obtain satellite-imaging of the target area?"

"On its way." Lennox had already authorised the request. "If these things left so much as a dent where they landed, we'll find it."

"Then, I fear, we can only wait." Optimus Prime gave Lennox a sidelong glance. "A chance to refresh ourselves perhaps?"

"I ought to stay…" Lennox trailed off, giving his second-in-command an irritated look. "What?"

"I wasn't going to say anything, Major… but, man, you could use a shower right now."

Lennox' shoulders rose and fell in a silent sigh. He headed for his quarters and the chance to relieve himself of the morning's sweat and exertion without another word. Life was unfair, he couldn't help feeling, when your second in command and a giant alien robot could team up against you.

* * *

Lennox was halfway across the floor of the main hangar, flushed but fresh, dark brown hair still curling damply behind his ears, when he noticed the Autobot huddle a short way from the control gantry. Prime's expression was unreadable, but both Ironhide and Ratchet looked serious, the latter's glance straying occasionally to where the Chevy twins were playing a rough-and-tumble game near the main doors.

"I've been monitoring the human law enforcement broadcasts, Prime," Ironhide's voice was low enough that Lennox had to strain to hear it, deliberately detouring to pass behind the backs of his companions. "He's been sighted to the west of the city, still travelling at reckless speed."

"Are we sure it was Sideswipe?" Prime rumbled, the whisper vibrating through the soles of Lennox' feet. "Human technology is poor at identifying individual vehicles."

"Silver Corvette travelling at two hundred miles an hour in the outer suburbs?" Ironhide asked wryly.

"Are the human police close to apprehending him?"

The weapons specialist snorted. "They'd have to get far enough ahead of him first."

"Good."

Lennox nodded to himself, agreeing with Prime's assessment even as he processed the implications. The 'bots had a police scanner? Well, that was sort of… cool, and it wasn't as if Lennox couldn't have guessed it. The last thing Sides, or any of the Autobots, needed was police entanglements. But Sideswipe still hadn't been in touch? It had been almost forty minutes since the warrior took off: an eternity and more by Cybertronian standards. Lennox didn't blame Prime for being concerned.

He was still frowning as he mounted the control gantry, nodding briefly to Epps and glancing first of all at the screen that scrolled Autobot-chatter on their shared broadcast channels. He ignored his second's report for a few moments, paging back up through the electronic messages. Twice in the last ten minutes, Optimus Prime had sent out a public request for his front-liner to check in. No doubt those were just two of the many private pings Sideswipe's Autobot friends had sent in his direction.

Epps sat back in his chair, the tall African-American raising an eyebrow as Lennox turned to face him.

"Yeah, they're getting a touch nervous."

"We heard anything on Sides ourselves?"

"Corvette headed due west. Damn fast." Epps shrugged. "Wherever he's going, he's sure in a hurry to get there. FBI are scrambling to pull a men-in-black act on the sheriffs along the way – 'nothing to see here folks'." The sergeant's chuckle faded into a serious look. "Nothing for the last fifteen minutes or so though. Reckon he's taken to the back roads."

"West." Lennox rubbed a hand back through his hair. "And those meteors NORAD tracked?"

"West," Epps confirmed. "Yeah, Optimus sent a couple of scouts to check it out, but they're a long way behind. We've still got techs going over the photos to pinpoint the touchdown zone. Could take a while – the area's pretty heavily wooded."

"If Sideswipe tries to take on three Decepticons on his own…"

"Why would he?" The master sergeant frowned, tilting his head to one side. "Okay, Sides kind of keeps himself to himself, and he talks a good fight, sure, but he's a team player. Why not just tell Prime what's going on?"

"That is a very good question." The rumble of Optimus Prime startled both men. They turned to find the Autobot leaning forward, head level with theirs and blue eyes focussed on them. "I would like to take some of my team and…"

Prime's voice cut off, his eyes widening. The console in front of the airmen chimed a familiar discordant alarm, and text scrolled up the screen, just as it would be scrolling past the optics of every Autobot within range.

_Alert!_

_Alert!_

_Warning: Decepticon contact…_

_Autobot requests urgent backup…_

_Distress… Sideswipe…_

_Distress… Sideswipe…_

_Distress… Sideswipe… Sunstreaker…_

_Distress… Sideswipe… Sunstreaker…_

Lennox stared at the screen in bemusement. There was a grinding of gears behind him, and a metallic clang as Ironhide dropped a huge fist into the open palm of his other hand.

"_Sunstreaker_."

"Sunny's here?" Mudflaps asked, skidding to a half under the gantry and transforming to look up, wide-eyed, at Prime.

"He finally made it!" Skids laughed. "Oh, this is going to be _fun_."

Ratchet seemed less amused. "Well," he observed. "That explains a lot."

"It does?" Lennox couldn't keep the frustration from his voice. "Who the hell is Sunstreaker?" He glanced over at the screen. "And why does our system already have him tagged as friendly?"

"Ah…"

It wasn't often Ironhide looked embarrassed. The big weapons specialist shuffled his feet, not quite catching anyone's eyes.

"Sideswipe persuaded me to add him to the official list of friendlies a while back." A huge metal hand rose to rub the back of Ironhide's stubby neck. "The youngster was pining and it didn't do any harm to assign the extra ID code."

Optimus Prime regarded his usually-stoic lieutenant with a hint of amusement before turning back towards the gantry. "I believe, Major Lennox, that an inspection of Sideswipe's quarters will reveal a solution to the supply mystery we were discussing earlier." The humour faded, Prime turning slightly, as if he could see through the western wall of the hangar and across the hundred miles beyond.

"Just like Sunny to find trouble as soon as he arrives," Ratchet grumbled, shifting a little uneasily.

"Or to bring it with him." Ironhide agreed. "To be fair, he's never yet got Sideswipe into trouble so bad the pair of them couldn't get out of it."

"Yet," Prime echoed. The single word fell into silence. The alert signals had stopped scrolling up the screen several seconds earlier, leaving an eerie stillness in their wake. "I'd remind you that not only Sideswipe but _Sunstreaker_ is requesting assistance."

Ratchet and Ironhide transformed without another word, the twins following their example. Optimus was still folding himself down as the familiar order rang out across the hangar.

"Autobots, roll-out!"

* * *

"So," Epps raised an eyebrow. "Any idea yet who this Sunny guy is?"

Lennox shrugged, settling his assault rifle more comfortably across his lap. "A friend of the 'bots? That's good enough for me."

The Chinook helicopter throbbed around them, its engines roaring as it raced to catch up with their Autobot allies. It had taken nearly thirty minutes for Lennox to get his NEST team primed, equipped and loaded on the 'copter. Even so, without the city traffic to navigate, they'd most likely arrive at the distress call's coordinates before the bulk of the Autobot team. Lennox couldn't help but feel a certain trepidation at the thought. There was nothing like having a fifty-foot robot as back-up to lend strength to your arm.

Even so… He looked around at his team.

"We might not know Sunstreaker, but we know Sideswipe is in trouble. Anyone Sides is fighting is an enemy. Anyone he isn't fighting is an enemy as soon as it fires on you."

"And if he's not up to fighting anyone?" Epps glanced down at the smartphone he held in one hand. The Autobot text channel pinged occasionally with a message from Prime, marshalling his forces, or a scout team reporting its ETA. There was no sign of a response either from Sideswipe or the mysterious Sunstreaker.

Lennox set his lips in a firm line. "If you can't see an Autobot symbol, you fire on it."

There was a grim movement amongst his men, a shifting of weight as each man braced himself for the battle ahead.

* * *

It was an anticlimax when the helicopter swept in across a ridge of hills to reveal a wooden valley almost entirely stripped of standing trees. Tall trunks were splayed out in a radial pattern that guided the eye back towards three impact craters. All around that churned ground, there was evidence for more deliberate disturbance too. The felled trees were splintered and fire-blackened. Lennox's battle-trained eyes picked out waves of destruction, one crossing another as the fight had ebbed and flowed. Leaving four, hulking grey-metal forms behind it.

"Get us down there!" Lennox's shouted instruction was accompanied by a vigorous hand gesture. The pilot waved an acknowledgement, dropping the Chinook groundwards and speaking into his microphone as he passed on the instruction to a second helicopter following behind.

Lennox braced, first out of the 'copter and first to sweep the near-silent valley with his weapon. Winter had closed in hard and firm up here in the mountain foothills. The cold made itself felt even through his combat gear, his breath frosting in the air and dry pine-leaves crunching under his feet.

"Spread out," he ordered, almost choking on the words as a neon-bright motorcycle roared into sight, spraying him with gravel as she skidded to a halt.

"Chromia?" It was a relief to have an Autobot here, even if it was the lightly-armed and fast-moving scout. Lennox's eyes kept straying back to the four still forms scattered around him. He was pretty sure he'd be able to pick out Sideswipe's sleek silver armour amidst the Deception greys and blacks, but he'd been in enough battles, and seen enough machinery slagged beyond recognition, to realise he couldn't be one hundred percent sure. "Report?"

"Four Decepticons." The femme's clipped report eased the tension in Lennox's chest. "Two of them new arrivals. All offline."

"Sideswipe? Sunstreaker?"

"Not here."

The motorcycle swept off before Lennox could ask anything more. He looked around him with a sense of helpless frustration. He'd come nerved for a battle, but arrived too late. His banked-up adrenalin was looking for an outlet. And now he, or rather Optimus Prime, had a soldier not just AWOL but MIA.

The thought of the quietly-humorous Sideswipe reduced to a pile of melted wreckage had hurt, but so did the uncertainty of not knowing what had happened to the Autobot warrior and his mysterious ally. Sighing, Lennox lowered his rifle to hang on its strap, his eyes dropping to the ground. Frowning, he sank into a crouch, fingers extended to touch the oily fluid that coated the soil and debris under his feet. It formed a shallow pool, trapped by the frozen ground surface and already freezing into sparkling crystals around its edges. Raising his hand to his face, he sniffed his fingers, not quite sure what he expected to smell. The tight feeling in his chest returned. He wouldn't be able to swear to it, but he was pretty sure that this was the fluid that ran through Cybertronian machinery, lubricating and energising it, in much the same was as iron-red blood ran through his own veins. And much as he wanted to attribute it to one of the offlined Decepticons, he couldn't quite see how such quantities of it would get over _here_ when they were over _there_.

He tensed, reaching for his rifle and waving his men to covered positions behind fallen tree-trunks, as a deeper engine note throbbed through the air. He braced himself against a trunk, squatting low behind it and not relaxing until his gun-sights showed him the Autobot symbol on Ironhide's radiator grill. Lowering the rifle with a sigh, he watched the black 4x4 transform, the yellow-clad form of Ratchet unfolding behind him.

"Prime's coming," Ironhide announced after sweeping the valley with both eyes and weapons. "These roads aren't meant for someone of his size."

Lennox nodded, not really surprised that the huge semi would struggle to find a path through the dense woodland. He opened his mouth and closed it again, eyes dropping back to the pool on the ground all around him as he tried to voice the question. He didn't need to. Ratchet's eyes followed his and the medic dropped to one knee, carrying out the same crude examination that Lennox had, tasting a sample of the fluid before spitting it out with a scowl.

The Autobot medic looked up at Ironhide, face blank.

"Autobot. Not Decepticon. At least one of them is hurt."

Ironhide nodded grimly, looking around him. "Four. Not a bad showing. Sunstreaker must have made himself quite the target to have a welcome party like this laid on for him."

Frustration simmered. Lennox had long since learnt that punching an Autobot's armour clad legs got him nothing but a sore hand. He kept a hold of his rifle and put all his anger into his voice instead.

"Ironhide, what the _Hell_ is going on around here? You're not telling me that Sideswipe slagged _four_ Decepticons with just this Sunstreaker for backup?"

Ironhide raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by the human's fury. Ratchet sighed.

"They always did make a formidable team."

"But your Sunny was one of the meteors, right? He'd still have been confused by the descent… adjusting."

Ironhide nodded. He retracted his bulky, multi-chambered weapon back out of sight and folded his arms.

"That's probably why they got caught."


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

Lennox caught himself pacing, the metal gantry rattling under his feet. He threw himself into a chair with a sigh, only then becoming aware that Epps was watching him. The sergeant had stopped on the gantry steps, leaning back against the railing with his arms crossed across his chest. If the man had been smiling, Lennox might have snapped a rebuke and reminded Epps that he should have been on duty three minutes earlier. As it was he could sympathise with the weary frown on his second's face.

"Kind of catching, isn't it?"

"You want to start making sense in your old age, Epps?"

"I saw Ironhide pacing earlier. And Optimus keeps doing that staring into the distance thing he does sometimes. They're worried. And you're worried. And that makes _me_ worried. Like I said: catching."

Lennox grimaced, scowling out across the hangar floor and the wide sweep of concrete pavement visible through the doors beyond. "Sideswipe."

"Sunny and Sides," Epps corrected. "The 'bots always pair them up like that. Like they can't imagine one without the other."

Lennox glanced at his second and then looked away, remembering the pool of motive fluid he'd found in a cold woodland valley more than two days before. The 'bots might not want to imagine one of the pair alone, but they might not have that luxury. As much as he wanted to keep his allies' hopes up, he couldn't help fearing that it was already too late for at least one of their missing friends.

He'd seen that same fear in the Autobot commander as Optimus Prime finally strode into the clearing. Prime had accepted Ratchet's report without comment and gone over the battle scene with both Ironhide and Lennox himself, concluding that his two warriors had faced at least five and perhaps six of their Decepticon foes. Looked at objectively, the Autobots had come out of the encounter as the victors. What no one knew was whether they'd lived to enjoy that victory. The fact that neither Sunstreaker nor Sideswipe lay amongst the fallen had brought some comfort. Their assumed injuries, their continued absence and the fact that neither was responding to calls all fed an air of tense anxiety that permeated the NEST base.

Autobot trackers were showing up nothing; satellite searches for radiation traces had proven inconclusive. Optimus hadn't recalled his scouts, but he had ordered his people to take some downtime. 'All we can do is wait for Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to send us a sign', he'd told them. Lennox wondered how long his mechanical friends would go on waiting, and how long it would be before the tension drained away into a helpless and frustrated grief.

Already the twins were quiet. The pair were the only Autobots in sight. Lennox could see them in their vehicular mode, the two small Chevys sitting fender-to-fender on the runway as they watched the sunset. Skids' declaration that Sunstreaker's arrival heralded 'fun' seemed an age ago. He and Mudflap had never been found far apart. Now it seemed as if even a few metres separation was too much. They stuck together like glue, both subdued and lacking the enthusiasm and delighted talent for getting into trouble that had always amused Lennox even as if infuriated him.

The base was a quieter, more sombre place than he'd seen it at any other time save one – in the stricken, grief-filled hours when they'd believed Optimus Prime forever lost to them.

"Major Lennox." As if summoned by the thought, Prime himself appeared, his mighty form making surprisingly little noise as it crossed the hangar. The huge, living metal head drew close, blue eyes scanning the major up and down. "I have told my soldiers to rest, so that they may be better prepared when the time comes for action. Cybertronian minds and bodies cannot maintain constant readiness indefinitely… any more than can the human form." He moved back a little, phrasing his observation carefully. "I wonder if perhaps you should give thought to withdrawing to your assigned chamber and recharging your own batteries."

Lennox leaned back in his chair, tilting his face up so he could look his ally and friend face to face. He raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? You're sending me to my room?"

"Your room? Ah, I see. This is a ritual of discipline between progenitor and sparkling." Prime's dinner-plate eyes flickered. Lennox would have laid even money that the huge Autobot had known exactly what he was saying before he spoke. Optimus was playing to an audience after all. Beside Lennox, Epps was sniggering, and in the hangar doorway, Mudflap and Skids had paused to listen as Optimus let loose an amused chuckle. "I assure you, Major. I have thoughts only for your continued smooth operation."

"Yeah." Lennox watched through the corner of his eye as the two young Autobots crossed the hangar floor. Usually they'd be pushing and shoving, and bickering the whole way. Today they moved in smooth unison. Their shared silence and synchronised manoeuvres struck a chord of wrongness that echoed through the vast room. "That's what my dad used to say too." Sighing, Lennox stood, glancing over the base's status displays before exchanging a look with his second to ensure Epps was ready and willing to take over. "All right, I guess it's time I went off-duty for a bit." He hesitated, eyeing the door through which the two Chevys had vanished. He was concerned for them, and not only as soldiers under his joint command. "Optimus, what's up with the twins?"

The Prime had been watching his young scouts too. He jumped a little at Lennox's words, tonnes of red and blue steelwork rattling as he straightened abruptly.

"The twins? Oh, you mean Mudflap and Skids." He sighed. "I'm afraid they have always rather idolised Sideswipe and Sunstreaker – much to the occasional annoyance of my skirmishers. They had been looking forward to seeing the two reunited. This… I am afraid it is deeply troubling for them." Optimus sighed, looking out towards the last rays of the setting sun. "The thought of separation is never easy for Cybertronian twins to comprehend."

Lennox frowned, somewhat nonplussed by that last comment. Hearing death described as a 'separation' sounded oddly clinical, even if it was more final than any other parting he could imagine. He looked up at Prime, feeling a pang of sorrow as he realised anew just how small a part of his friend's mind he'd ever understand.

"Right," he said to no one in particular. "Time to hit the sack." He nodded at Epps. "See you in – "

"Major!" The shout went up from further along the gantry. Lennox, Epps and Optimus Prime all turned to find a young lieutenant waving frantically, gesturing to the screen in front of him. "Incoming!"

"What?"

There was no time for anything more.

Cybertronian metal scattered radar signals more effectively than even the best stealth coatings humanity had devised, and the missile had come in supersonically, its impact shockwave already rolling under their feet before the scream of its arrival reached them. There'd been no more than a second or two between its first detection, and the moment it buried itself in the concrete of the runway. If it had been loaded, primed and ready to explode, it could have taken out half the base before they ever knew about it.

Lennox threw himself to the floor of the gantry, Epps beside him, and both covered the back of their heads with their hands as they waited for the blast. Beside them, Optimus Prime rocked a little in surprise, before turning his eyes out into the ever-darkening night, their blue irises dilating and shifting as he refocused his optics and sensory equipment.

"I detect no explosives."

Technically, Lennox ought to wait for the bomb disposal team to confirm that. He'd learnt to trust NEST's less conventional resources. "Chemical gas?" he demanded.

"I see no trace of leakage."

"Biologicals?" Epps added, completing their checklist. Neither chemical nor biological warfare were tactics that came naturally to Cybertronians of either persuasion, but if nothing else, the Decepticons were quick learners. Lennox couldn't discount the possibility, at least not until Prime shook his head in a decisive gesture.

"I do not believe so."

Lennox shook his head, scrambling back to his feet.

"Then what the Hell is it?"

Already the base's emergency team was scrambling, forming a perimeter around the unexploded missile and cordoning it off until the bomb disposal unit could get there. Lennox was half way down the gantry stairs before Optimus began to transform, opening a door in silent invitation as his cab formed. The major didn't need to be asked twice. The big semi's engines roared with power as he scrambled inside.

* * *

The night was drawing in. Prime's powerful headlights split the darkness like twin suns as they bounced along the taxiways and then raced down the runway proper. Ahead of them, the missile lay buried nose-down, a classic tapered rocket shape, complete with fins that stuck up into the air, undamaged by the rippling force of impact. It looked like a kids drawing of a missile, or like a comic book bomb from half a century before. Only the dark sheen to the metal, drinking in whatever light fell on it and giving nothing back, betrayed its origins. That, and the indefinable sense of malice that could well be nothing more than Lennox's well-trained gut-instinct warning him of danger.

"Prime!" Ironhide swung into formation behind them, the rugged truck making better time than his more massive commander. "Keep these humans back. Let me get a look at the thing."

The weapons expert sounded worried. That alone was enough to set Lennox reaching for his radio, reinforcing the order to keep all personnel well away from the missile.

Prime skidded to a halt a half-dozen metres from the thing, mindful of his passenger and on the edge of the rippled crater that had spread out from the point of impact. Ironhide didn't stop, transforming as he closed the space between himself and the weapon.

"Definitely Cybertronian," he muttered, pacing around the device, his optics glowing as they cast light on the dark metal. "Could carry a fair charge of energon. Or a whole load of other nastiness. But it's empty."

"You are certain it's safe?"

Ironhide looked up, frowning. "Prime, if this thing had been active, we wouldn't be standing around talking about it, believe me."

"An accidental misfire?" Prime rumbled, his voice sounding all around Lennox.

"If it was, they had the system pre-programmed for NEST," Lennox pointed out, feeling a chill roll down his spine. "Someone's out there aiming these things at us?"

Ironhide's agreement did nothing to ease the tension in his back. "The next might not be nearly so benign. I ought to get this to my lab. Examine it properly." The Autobot continued his prowl around the object. Lennox had just begun to look away, already wondering what he could do to boost his base's missile defences against something like _this_, when Ironhide stopped with a sharp oath.

Lennox found himself gently but firmly ejected, sliding to the ground as Optimus transformed. The Prime closed the gap between himself and his lieutenant in two strides, at Ironhide's side before any other of the assembled humans and Autobots could react. The giant blue and red machine froze, standing side-by-side with his equally frozen weapons master as they shared a moment of stunned silence. Then Optimus's chest lit up, projecting a holographic image high into the air for his assembled team to see.

The pitch-black metal must have been tough. It had ploughed into the ground with barely a dent to show for all its supersonic speed. Despite that, angular characters were scratched into the surface of one tail-fin. The first set were recognisably coordinates, written in a format that even the humans of NEST could read and understand. That was exciting enough. What caused the astonished silence that rippled out through the crowd were the two near-identical Cybertronian name glyphs carved into the metal below the six-digit reference. Lennox had never been much good at interpreting the things, barely recognising that of Optimus, and only then because of the small cartouche that indicated a Prime. He didn't have to read these two to know what they meant.

Well over half of the Autobot forces were gathered around the fallen missile now. Even after the Prime's order, precious few of them could have been in a recharge sequence and still got out here so quickly. In the cold silence of the winter night Lennox felt a shared euphoria rise between the Autobots, as flagging hope returned resurgent.

"They're not offline?" Mudflaps muttered quietly, talking to himself. A grin spread across the 'bot's ugly face. He turned to his twin, seizing Skids by the ears and bumping heads with his brother. "Wahoo! Sunny 'n Sides're alive!"

"Told you so!" Skids threw his arms around his brother, laughing as Mudflap shook him off with a look of disgust.

"Did not!"

"I so did!"

"Oh, you so did not, you little – "

Ratchet came up behind the tussling twins, taking one in each hand and banging their heads together before tossing the young Autobots behind him. The grizzled old medic wore a broad smile on his usually-calm visage.

"Might have known that pair wouldn't go down without making a whole lot more noise and trouble first." He prodded the missile. "I know you said we were waiting for a sign, Prime, but this..." He shook his head, chuckling. "Never known such attention-seekers, not in all the years since I first sparked."

"Well, they've got mine." Lennox spoke up, more than a little irritated when his Autobot friends reacted with surprise, as if only now remembering his presence. He jerked a thumb at the empty missile casing. "I want to know where that thing came from – and what's going to be in the next one."

Ironhide rubbed his chin, metal scraping against metal. "You know, Prime, if Sunstreaker got wind of some kind of science lab – a missile like this under development – and was trying to bring the news to us, that could explain why the Decepticons came after him with such a vengeance."

"And why Sideswipe headed off like that?"

Ironhide snorted quietly. "Sunstreaker could have been bringing last week's weather forecast and we couldn't have kept Sideswipe from getting to that landing site as fast as his wheels would take him."

Lennox frowned, realising that he'd never really got to the bottom of just how Sideswipe had known about the incoming 'bot so long before his colleagues. He opened his mouth to ask, but stopped when Prime turned to him, a serious look in his eyes.

"Major Lennox, I do not believe that either Sideswipe or Sunstreaker would willingly endanger their fellow Autobots, or our allies, but I have to consider the possibility that this may be a trap. I cannot ask…"

Stay behind, with Sides in Decepticon hands? Stay behind while the Autobots he lived with and fought alongside went into battle? Stay behind when the next missile could come screaming out of the sky at any moment, wiping out human and machine alike? Prime knew better. Lennox straightened his shoulders, folding his arms across his chest and looking up at his Autobot counterpart.

"If it's a trap, NEST are going to walk into it with their eyes wide open. Lets go get our boys."

* * *

The warehouse hugged the ground, a sprawling metal-framed building like a dozen others in the edge-of-town industrial zone. Lennox would never have tagged it as a Decepticon base, not even when he saw the big delivery-bay doors that allowed vehicles to drive – or walk – straight into the building.

In position on the one-mile perimeter, he hunkered down, taking cover behind Ironhide's vehicular form and scanning the area with a pair of powerful, night-vision binoculars.

"You're sure they're in there?" He waved a hand, taking in the sweep of other factories and warehouses. "Wouldn't the folks in these have noticed?"

"Humans are frequently not the most observant species."

Lennox rolled his eyes. Great. Nothing like an insipient battle to make Ironhide tense and irritable.

"Empty." Mudflap drew up with a purr of electric motors, and dimmed headlights. The young Autobot spoke seriously, voice low, and for the first time in days, his twin brother wasn't glued to his side. "Prime says t'tell you these factory-things are empty. Reckon the 'cons don' want'a audience. Got rid of the humans nearby."

Lennox nodded, patting the scout's flank in thanks for the message. The forcefield dome that disrupted Cybertronian communications signals anywhere within a mile of the warehouse was the strongest indication they had of a Decepticon presence, scratched coordinates on a missile casing aside. The Autobots were visibly unsettled by the disruption, forced to use the twins and motorcycle scouts as runners. Lennox's team were faring better. It wasn't often there were advantages to having equipment too primitive for Decepticon technology to disrupt.

Lennox reached for his radio. A scatter of white-noise aside, it was working just fine.

"Alpha team in position. Report."

Epps voice spilled from the device, crackling with interference but clearly audible nonetheless. "Beta team, standing by."

"Prime reports nearby warehouses empty. Civilian risk minimal."

"Well, ain't that peachy?"

Snorting at Epps' sardonic response, Lennox closed the channel. He couldn't blame Epps for being unenthusiastic – the idea of Decepticons being sneaky, as well as plain destructive, had both of them on edge. It was barely an hour since the missile struck the base, ruining all their plans for the evening – a quick scramble even by NEST standards. They just hoped it was quick enough to catch the 'cons on recharge, and to catch up with Sunny and Sides before their unorthodox S-O-S got them into more trouble still.

"We need to get in there," Ironhide's growl suggested the same thoughts were going through his mind.

Lennox gave the dark-armoured 4x4 a hard look, unwilling to accept the challenge to his authority, even from Prime's lieutenant. "We'll go in on my say so, and not before." Thinking hard, the major waved one of his team over. "Edwards, take a ride with Mudflap, will you? I need someone with fingers to act as radio operator for the 'bots."

The young lieutenant, a veteran of the battle in Egypt, looked peeved by his sudden demotion to go-between, but he didn't object, sliding into Mudflap's front seat as the Chevy obligingly threw a door open for him. Two minutes later, and Prime's deep voice rumbled from a radio set far too small for him ever to handle.

"Major, my Autobots are ready – "

The end of the sentence was cut-off by a scream of tortured air and an earth-shaking concussion. Lennox hit the ground with the pure survival instinct of a special-forces officer. At first he thought it must be another missile, fired off by the 'cons. It was only as he blinked dust out of his eyes that he realised it was something much worse. He scrambled for his binoculars, focusing them in time to see Megatron stride into the warehouse. The Decepticon leader looked decidedly pissed, brushing aside the fawning of a smaller 'con that must have come out to meet him, and leaving the smoking crater he'd just created behind him without a second glance.

"Major Lennox," Prime's voice was tight with an unaccustomed tension. "The Autobots are moving in."

Lennox shook his head, not in negation but in rueful disbelief. So much for finally getting the chance to call the shots on this one. He reached for his radio, hitting the broadcast switch.

"Two Decepticons sighted. Presume more inside. All teams: go, go, go!"

* * *

It was almost too easy. Given the size of the place, Lennox had been reckoning on perhaps half a dozen Decepticons inside. He'd forgotten about the four that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had left behind them amidst the fallen trees of a frost-bitten valley.

The human NEST team breached the warehouse complex at two points, going through the doors rather than alerting the 'cons to their presence as they made their way from vast room to vast room, struggling not to become distracted by the wealth of alien technology packing the otherwise-mundane building. Lennox nodded in response to shouts of 'clear', working his way towards the central loading bay – the point at which Megatron had entered, and where any moment now…

Lennox had just pushed aside a divider made of hanging strips of transparent plastic, taking in the tableau in front of him in a split second, when the wall to his left exploded and the Autobot contingent made their entrance.

Dust flew in a cloud, almost hiding the shrapnel that threatened to shred an unwary human. Shards of metal wall panel and timber frame clattered off the armoured shell of the small, wiry Decepticon who'd greeted his leader, the computer panel he was working at and the ominous, needle-sharp shape of a black-metal missile behind him. Debris rained down too on the still form of a bigger, bulkier 'con, sparking and leaking under a pile of chains, each thick and heavy enough to anchor an ocean-going tanker in place.

A few links of those chains still hung from around the wrists, ankles and necks of not one, but two silver Autobots, catching the headlights of the newcomers as they flashed through the air. The two fighters seemed oblivious to their newly-arrived reinforcements, their total concentration on the huge Decepticon, easily twice their size, at the centre of their attack.

"Whoa."

Lennox pushed himself flat back against a wall, instinct and years of experience telling him that this was a fight in which he'd be more of a threat to friends than enemies. Megatron, roaring and tossing his head as he tried to keep both Autobots in sight, would think nothing of stepping on an errant human, not even pausing to scrape off the organic residue. The Autobots would go out of their way to protect him, even at the cost of their own lives, but that was assuming they even saw the human soldier running between their feet.

He leaned back instead, avoiding what he could of the flying debris, and marvelled at what he was watching.

He'd heard hand-to-hand combat described as a dance. He'd seen it himself, in the rare battles between the most skilled skirmishers on both sides of this war. He'd always rated Sideswipe as one of the best, marvelling in the grace and economy of the warrior's movements, and in the sheer elegance of his destructive power. He hadn't realised until today that he'd only been seeing one half of the Autobot's natural technique.

Now he saw the other half. Wherever Sideswipe wasn't, the second Autobot, Sunstreaker, _was_. He danced forward as his partner danced back. The pair of them ducked and wove and handed off their increasingly frustrated foe between them, never staying in Megatron's firing line for long, or giving the huge Decepticon the chance to focus on one of them exclusively.

Sideswipe was good. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker together were incredible.

From the scratches on Megatron's armour, it was clear that the two 'bots had got more than one swipe of their powerful weapons in. The fact that they were still functioning, several minutes after taking on the deadliest warrior in the enemy ranks spoke volumes for their skill. Unfortunately, it was equally clear that they'd done precious little damage.

Lennox frowned, realisation dawning as his initial shock at the sight faded. As impressive as the Autobot's display was, there was something subtly wrong about it. Sideswipe was moving awkwardly, his reaction times slowing by a split second at a time even as the human watched. More than once, Sunstreaker faltered, not quite where he should have been to play his part in the complex ballet, and visibly favouring his right arm. Both 'bots were struggling, spending longer in Megatron's firing line and dancing out of his grasp by ever finer margins as the seconds ticked past.

Optimus Prime must have seen it too.

"Megatron!" he roared, the sound shaking the metal wall panels in their frames. He dived forward, tackling his counterpart with his full body-weight, knocking him out from between the flagging warriors. Prime's momentum was enormous, sending both giant machines tumbling through the back wall of a warehouse that suddenly seemed a whole lot less stable than it had moments before.

For a moment, Sideswipe and his fellow captive just stood, swaying slightly as they stared at the empty space where moments before they'd faced a deadly foe. Then, in perfect unison, they dropped to their knees, sinking to the ground in silence.

Worried as he was, Lennox couldn't spare time to focus on the casualties of this fight, not while there were threats still to deal with.

Ironhide was grappling with the thin, lightly-armed Decepticon by the computer console. Behind them, the missile was moving, its launcher swinging up and around as it raised itself towards a firing position. Other Autobots were ignoring it, clustered protectively around their fallen brothers-in-arms, or streaming through the room to follow Prime and Megatron out behind the building. Lennox pushed away from the walls, running between and around his allies, his eyes and thoughts entirely focussed on that missile.

The computer panel was covered in Cybertronian glyphs, as incomprehensible as ancient Greek to the American soldier. The two things he was sure about were the satellite image of the NEST base that lay dead centre at the focus of concentric circles that stretched almost as far as the downtown district twenty miles away, and the big, throbbing red button beside it that just begged to be pushed. As he studied it, he became aware of a third certainty. The numerals might be familiar, but the regularly changing display in the upper left-hand panel had all the hallmarks of an active countdown.

Lennox stared helplessly at it, aware of Ironhide and the 'con wrestling above him, and forced to duck to one side as the Decepticon flung an arm in his direction, almost reaching the firing button before Ironhide pulled him back.

"We've got to stop it," Epps was beside him, the sergeant almost unrecognisable beneath a layer of dirt and grime. The man reached for his rifle, ready to fire on the control panel before hesitating. "Damn, do we know what'll set this thing off?"

"Nope, But we can keep it from hitting Base." Lennox reached into his pocket, pulling out a shaped charge of explosive and setting off towards the missile launcher, dodging between the legs of Ironhide and the Decepticon as he went.

He barely gave himself time to get clear before he blew the support strut he'd targeted, throwing himself to the ground and using Ironhide's legs for cover. The blast echoed through the metal cavern of the warehouse, the initial percussion followed by an eerily drawn-out squeal as the launcher's structure twisted, shearing under its own weight. The weapons specialist and his opponent paused as the missile launcher tilted, both of their eyes widening as they dived in unison to catch the missile itself before it could slide out of its casing and hit the ground. Lennox grimaced, taken aback by the temporary alliance.

Okay then, maybe not his smartest idea of all time.

Either way, two pairs of Cybertronian hands eased the ominous, black-metal device to the ground. Blue eyes and red met in a moment of mutual respect and shared relief as they crouched over the weapon of mass destruction. And then Lennox saw the canon fold out from the Decepticon's arm, chest-high on Ironhide and at point black range.

"Ironhide!"

Lennox might as well not have bothered with his warning. Ironhide's eyes didn't so much as flicker. His clenched fist swung left to right before the call was half-formed on Lennox' lips, all but decapitating his opponent in a single devastating blow. The Decepticon crumpled, falling to the ground in a clatter of metal on concrete, even as Ironhide straightened to stand over the broken and offlined machine. The bulky Autobot scowled.

"Con scientists. Never can trust them."

The weapons specialist straightened, extending a finger to help Lennox as the major pushed himself up from the ground. Epps grabbed his superior's other side, steadying him. Through his ear-piece, Lennox could hear reports of the battle outside, Prime and Megatron going at one another with devastating force. There was nothing anyone, human or Autobot, could do in that fight but sit, and watch and pray. Instead his eyes turned towards the centre of the room, where Ratchet's yellow and black armour was barely visible through a crowd of worried spectators. Beside Lennox, Ironhide frowned before striding forward.

"Make a path there."

The two silver-grey Autobots lay prone on the concrete floor of the warehouse, optics dark and unseeing. Now that Lennox was able to study them properly, not just blink at a blur of motion, he could see the damage each had sustained. The whole left-hand side of Sideswipe's lower abdomen was covered in a patch, crudely welded in place. Sunstreaker's armour was battered, a dent marring one side of his face-plate. His right arm sparked, servos exposed where his casing had been stripped away and motive fluid leaking between Ratchet's busy fingers. Only the medic's constant activity, moving from one stricken warrior to the other reassured Lennox that they must still hold a spark of life deep in their cores. He eyed the Sideswipe's crude repair with a grim expression.

"Decepticons were trying to keep him alive?"

Ironhide slammed a fist into the palm of his other hand. "Information about NEST. Information about the Autobot forces out there," he waved a hand vaguely above his head, as if trying to encompass the whole of deep space in the gesture. "An Autobot secured in Decepticon hands is just too valuable to let them escape by going offline."

Epps, standing a step behind and to the left of his commander, frowned. "Some escape."

Ratchet looked up for the first time. "You've never experienced a Decepticon's idea of interrogation." His eyes locked with Ironhide's. "They have. They must've been sharing energon to keep each other going this long, but they're out of gas, both of them. Dangerously depleted. There's got to be a recharge port for the 'cons around here somewhere. Find it. Fast!"

Ironhide didn't have to pass on the order. Mudflap, Skids and a handful of other Autobots peeled off, bare seconds passing before Skids gave a shout of 'Yo!' and waved frantically. Ratchet and Ironhide moved at once, each scooping up one of their fallen warriors and carrying them to the narrow chamber Skids had identified. Ratchet's hands moved too fast for Lennox to follow, retuning the system, wedging the two slender Autobots together and connecting both up in parallel to a recharge cubicle intended for just one.

Lennox had trailed after the 'bots, feeling the tension in the air around them. After all this, surely they couldn't come so close only to lose Sunny and Sides for good? He could see the determination in Ratchet not to let that happen, and the worry in the grizzled old medic's posture as he fussed around the active recharge chamber.

His earpiece chattered at him, the soldiers outside shouting something about Megatron and Prime, their words lost in the noise of battle and a snowstorm of interference. Lennox needed to get out there, but not until he knew the situation here. He nodded at the metal box standing against an equipment-clad wall.

"How long're they going to be in there?"

Ratchet rubbed his chin. "Two, maybe three hours. Minimum."

"You're kidding? Can't they recharge when we get them back to NEST? I'll call a couple of evac 'copters…"

It wasn't often Ratchet handled a human. His sudden movement took Lennox by surprise. The old medic scooped him up before the major could react, lifting him until he was looking directly into Ratchet's fierce blue eyes.

"Their systems have dropped too low. There could be irreparable damage already. Take them out of there in less than an hour and they won't have the energon to make it _back_ to Base."

Lennox felt a knot in his gut, glancing over the Autobot's shoulder to the gently-glowing chamber beyond. He couldn't keep a note of worry out of his voice.

"Ratchet, this place isn't secure."

"We will make it secure." Prime's voice dripped with weariness. Jolt supported him on his left-hand side and other Autobots clustered around him. Blue eyes surveyed the room. "Megatron is flown. The scientist Nightseeker is destroyed. Sunstreaker's warning came in time. The Decepticon stratagem is no more."

The tension drained from Lennox. He nodded, stepping back down to the ground as Ratchet lowered him before bustling over to check on his Prime. With a few hand-gestures, he told Epps to deploy their troops, covering off the approaches and securing the base. He gritted his teeth, determined to make this ex-Decepticon stronghold into the best damn protection he could devise for a single glowing box and its precious contents.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three**

"So," Lennox sat on the edge of a workbench, heels kicking idly into thin air. "Twins, huh?"

Beside him, Optimus Prime was resting, folded into his vehicular mode for comfort and economy of space. At first Lennox thought his friend was too lost in his own thoughts to respond. He was startled when Optimus's voice finally rumbled through the air around him,

"Indeed."

Technicians, working in teams to dismantle the Decepticon laboratory, paused in their work. Ironhide had already designated several areas of the warehouse complex as too dangerous for humans to enter, most likely because they contained advanced weaponry and the big, tempting red buttons Decepticons seemed to love. The tech teams were scrambling to record and remove what was left. Their eyes had lit up on seeing the treasure trove open to them. At least half seemed paranoid that Optimus Prime would snatch it away again at any moment.

The Prime himself was weary, not sustaining major damage in his fight against Megatron, but still tired and low on energy. Lennox suspected that Ratchet rather wanted his commander back at the NEST base, and bumped up the rota for a recharge chamber. Until Sunny and Sides emerged from theirs, there was no chance of that happening.

"Forgive me, Lennox. I did not realise that you were unfamiliar with the nature of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's relationship."

"No biggie." Lennox shrugged. The fact that the two 'bots were close had been obvious from the first time Sunstreaker's name was mentioned. Given the number of hints and asides Lennox had picked up in the last two days, he was actually embarrassed that he'd needed to see them fight together before he put it all together.

Mudflap and Skids had that same instinctive knowledge of one another's presence and moves, tempered by their small stature, adolescent awkwardness and relative lack of experience. In Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Lennox had seen the twin-spark tempered, trained and refined until it became a fearsome weapon in its own right. No wonder Sideswipe had avoided the Chevys, their mere presence reminding him of what he was missing, particularly in the aftermath of yet another unsatisfying battle. And no wonder the younger twins idolised the older pair, seeing in them something to aspire to.

"Anyone else hiding a twin brother I should know about? A long-lost sib or parent that's going to turn up bringing all the hordes of the Decepticons behind him?"

Prime rumbled, the sound throbbing deep and low in the air. It was almost, but not quite, laughter.

"A sibling or progenitor… that is difficult to say. But twins? No. A shared spark is rare and precious thing amongst our kind." The truck fell silent for a few seconds, and Lennox could feel the unseen eyes grow distant. "Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. There was a time they were inseparable. I was surprised when Sideswipe agreed to follow my call to Earth. I am sure he has regretted it from time to time, feeling the separation from his twin brother fiercely."

"He's not been the fun-loving 'bot we all know and love, that's for sure." Ironhide rolled to a halt beside his Prime, both of them gazing across the floor to the recharge chamber.

"At its core, his impulsive nature and joy of battle has remained unchanged."

"Oh, yes." Ironhide wasn't so much arguing with his Prime as expanding on his thought. "But it wouldn't have hurt him to unwind once in a while. Live a little."

Lennox couldn't help wincing a little at that. He eased himself a little further back on the tabletop, struggling not to slump as his body protested its bone-weariness. This vigil seemed to be lasting forever. With the humans working around them, the communications shield lowered and the warehouse confirmed free of any Decepticon presence, Ratchet had decided to give his patients the full five-hour recharge sequence, reaching into the chamber and around them to delicately repair the worst of their damage as they slept.

Lennox and Prime had spent most of those hours watching him, their eyes straying to the two still forms, sunk deep into a recharge cycle, or maybe some more worrying stupor. It was still too early to be sure just how low on power the twin Autobots had sunk and what the consequences were going to be. Ironhide shifted uncomfortably, perhaps embarrassed by his choice of words.

"Which isn't to say our medic wasn't glad of the respite," the weapons specialist added, as if in afterthought, eyes on his friend as Ratchet paced up and down in front of the narrow metal box.

"He spends a lot of time patching them up?" Lennox could believe it. Two warriors like that, joyful and fearless in the front line of battle, must take a fair bit of damage.

The Autobots hesitated and Lennox could sense the amusement in the air between them. "Amongst other things," Prime allowed after a few seconds. "Sunstreaker is not the easiest of my charges to live with, Major Lennox."

Ironhide chuckled. "But Sides and Sunny together sure do keep a place interesting."

There was no time for Lennox to ask just what that might mean. On the other side of the room, Ratchet stopped his pacing, turning abruptly to face the recharge chamber as the pale glow of power faded. Ironhide and Prime started forward, Lennox jumping down from his tabletop perch and hurrying to keep up with his friends as they fell into line in front of the tall, narrow compartment.

"Come on," Ratchet was muttering, low and urgent. "Power up, youngsters. Power up, damn you!"

There was a moment of perfect, tense stillness, every pair of eyes in the room glued to the same sight. Then, as if in response to the medic's command, the optics on one of the twins began to glow, softly at first but then with increasing brilliance. They flickered off for a moment as the Autobot – crammed too closely in with his brother for Lennox to make out which one – blinked, and then steadied. The 'bot shifted. His head rose, knocking hard against the side of the recharge chamber, and his arm came up instinctively to support his still-unaware brother as the metal cubicle rocked around them.

"Hey!" It was an unfamiliar voice, near-identical in timbre and rhythm to Sideswipe, but a semi-tone higher in pitch. "What the…? Hey, Sides! Wake up!"

The second twin snapped awake in half the time it had taken his brother, jerking backwards and then tangling with his fellow 'bot as the two of them realised how tightly they were crammed together. The recharge chamber rocked around them, shoved from side to side by the warriors' broad shoulders.

"What..?"

"I don't know. Just don't move, okay?"

"But…"

A creak, a wobble and the recharge chamber toppled forward away from the wall, its metal walls hiding the two struggling Autobots still inside. There were a couple of seconds of silence, and then Sideswipe's smooth voice rang out at floor level, its tone thoughtful.

"Not that I mind sharing a recharge chamber from time to time, Sunny, but I have to say, you wouldn't be my first choice of companions."

"Uh-huh. Likewise. Reckon we should be worried?"

"Actually, I'm kind of too busy being relieved we're not offline."

"Okay. Two questions: how did we get in here, and why aren't we offline? Want to try getting out of here, or just get on with wondering?"

The twins weren't given the choice. Ironhide took a grip on one side of the recharge chamber, Ratchet mirroring him. One firm pull and the metal box shredded, tumbling two silver-grey Autobots onto the concrete floor beneath. They rolled to their feet with the casual grace of trained warriors, both bracing themselves and coming up armed before hesitating, caught by Prime's big, blue eyes.

Weapons were sheathed, both Autobots coming to a rather confused attention.

"I believe the answer to both your questions to be 'Ratchet'," Prime observed in a neutral tone.

The twins exchanged a glance before turning identical embarrassed looks on their medic.

"Hey, ah, thanks." Sunstreaker's awkward gratitude was echoed by Sideswipe's quiet sincerity.

"Thank you."

Ratchet glowered at them, his anxiety of the last few days hidden behind a fierce mask. "Don't let it happen again."

Sunstreaker threw the senior 'bot a cocky smile. "We'll do our best." His eyes swept the ruined Decepticon base, taking in the Prime-sized holes decorating opposite walls of the warehouse. " I was just gonna give you a heads up about this place. Wasn't my fault the 'cons decided to start playing with missiles... or that Sides got himself pranged."

Ratchet narrowed his eyes. "Somehow, it never is."

"Sunstreaker." Optimus Prime drew all eyes back to him with the single word. "You are welcome here on Earth. I must introduce you to Major Lennox, who leads those humans who fight at our side."

Sunstreaker's eyes followed Prime's pointing fingers, scanning Lennox up and down and then glancing back at his brother, before returning the human. Lennox summoned up his best cocky smile to match the 'bot's. Sunstreaker glanced again at his twin, clearly searching for additional information before giving something approximating a brisk nod.

"Hey."

Lennox smile turned grim. The Autobot's doubt was tangible. It would take more than his brother's recommendation to convince this one of Lennox' worth, that much was clear. Lennox could deal with that. Sunstreaker wasn't the first cocky Autobot to fall to Earth and he wouldn't be the last. NEST had ways of putting an incoming 'bot in his place.

"I'm sure we're going to get on just fine," he predicted.

There was a thud of rotors, vibrating the air. Two huge helicopters were landing outside the warehouse, right on schedule. Lennox folded his arms, looking the two recharged but still unsteady soldiers up and down.

"Right, lets get you two back to Base."

"In those things?"

Sunstreaker glanced through the hole in the wall, looking at the human transports with obvious disdain. Sideswipe's bearing was more uneasy, something of the clinginess Lennox had seen in Mudflap and Skids in his posture as he edged almost imperceptibly closer to his twin brother. The senior 'bots exchanged a thoughtful look.

Ratchet hummed over his breath, glancing at the helicopters – each able to hold a single Autobot – and then back at the newly-reunited twins. He folded his arms.

"You're all buzzing with energon, I know, but are you two up to transforming?" he asked bluntly.

Sideswipe folded down into his vehicular form with obvious difficulty, the ugly patch on his side still awaiting a proper repair. Sunstreaker watched his brother for a few seconds before transforming more smoothly, a second silver Corvette joining its twin beneath the fluorescent lights. Both revved their engines, edging forward a few feet to show their eagerness.

A smile twitched the corners of Ratchet's mouth, one of relief Lennox thought, before the medic's eyes narrowed. "Oh no, you don't. I want to know just whose aft I'm throwing a spanner at."

Ironhide mirrored his friends' posture, folding his arms and tapping one foot on the ground.

"Colour," he demanded. "Now."

There was a moment of hesitation, the two cars exchanging looks in some manner Lennox couldn't quite perceive. The air rippled, and where before an identical pair of sportscars had graced the rundown laboratory, now one was clad in fire-truck red, the second shimmering the vibrant golden-yellow of ripe maize. Ironhide and Ratchet sighed, neither able to hide their smile.

"Now doesn't that feel better?" Ratchet murmured, patting the two Corvettes on their roofs. The red car revved his engine with an annoyance that slid off Ratchet's broad shoulders unheeded.

"It would, perhaps, feel even more so if you were to resume your more accustomed liveries."

Ratchet froze, his eyes widening as he looked up at Prime. There was a chuckle from the twins that couldn't honestly be described as anything but a snigger, and the two Corvettes shimmered again, exchanging colour schemes between one blink of the eye and the next.

The red car edged a little forward. "Sideswipe reporting for duty."

His yellow twin matched him. "Sunstreaker ready to roll."

The senior autobots exchanged rueful looks, their bodies already folding down into vehicles that spoke of power and strength where the Corvettes were all speed and grace. Prime's cab door swung open and Lennox gripped the handle with one hand, waving a farewell at the chief technician and reaching for his radio to dispatch the helicopters back to Base. He could hitch a ride with them, he knew, and stretch out his weary bones that little bit earlier. Instead he climbed aboard Optimus Prime, one weary commander joining another, ready to ride out the small hours shepherding their wayward warriors back to Base.

Ironhide rolled out, the twins following, and Prime and Ratchet bringing up the rear. Lennox hid his smile. Something told him that he wasn't the only one who wanted to keep a close eye on Sideswipe and his newly-arrived twin brother.

* * *

They were maybe five miles out of the industrial zone when Sideswipe and his brother eased past Ironhide to take the lead. It was perhaps a minute after that before the yellow-gold Sunstreaker revved his engine, putting his front bumper a foot or so ahead of his twin's. Lennox watched with tired amusement as the scarlet Sideswipe put in a burst of his own, outpacing his brother and getting his nose ahead in what was soon a rapidly-accelerating game of tit-for-tat.

None of the other Autobots reacted with surprise when the game drew to a climax, both front-liners dropping their clutches and flooring the gas pedal at the same unheard signal. He had no doubt that Ironhide, Ratchet and Prime were keeping a careful eye on their charges, ready to catch up when the pair had burnt off the sheer joie de vivre of their reunion. In the meantime Lennox laughed as he watched two pairs of tail-lights streak into the distance, tearing up the empty road and losing themselves in the pre-dawn gloom.

On the eastern horizon, shafts of gold and red heralded the dawning of a new day. Leaning back against Optimus Prime's comfortable front seat, Lennox let himself doze, getting some rest while he could. Skids had been right.

This was going to be _fun_.

* * *

**The End**


End file.
